Hidehiko

One misplaced sneeze, twenty feet of ruined ceremonial silk, and the silent, withering judgment of the entire Panda Council. That was Hidehiko’s entire artistic career. As a trainee calligrapher in The Great Panda City, their only job was to not ruin the festival banner. They failed spectacularly. Their punishment was not exile, but something far worse for a shy chimp: a public demotion to riverbank maintenance. Stripped of their brushes, they took up a fishing rod, mostly to look busy. For weeks, their only catches were their own hat and a particularly stubborn water weed. Then, Okina's prized golden koi vanished from the temple pond. While guards searched, Hidehiko, trying to untangle their line, accidentally hooked the fugitive fish. They returned it with a nervous bow and became a hero by mistake. They are still not allowed near ink.